Ahrefs published a report analyzing 331K pages to track whether AI-generated content performs well in Google rankings or not.
The crisp and short conclusion that the study revealed is that human-generated content generally performs better than heavily AI-generated content.
However, learning the key facts, observations, and inferences is essential to understand what works and what won’t in developing a workable SEO approach.
Key Findings From Google AI Content Study By Ahrefs
The study was published in a blog titled “Google Doesn’t Punish AI Content; It Punishes Bad Content (331k Pages Studied)” by Ryan Law, the Director of Content Marketing at Ahrefs.
In this study, they used the Ahrefs Ai Content Detector to get the % of AI in the ranking content.
The key stats revealed by the analysis are:
- 54.7% of the top-ranking pages have less than 20% AI content.
- 82.2% of pages in the top 3 rankings have less than 50% AI content.
- 9% of pages ranking in the top 3 positions have >80% AI content.
When it comes to the top 10 positions, the study says AI-generated content gets rarer as we move toward the top ranks.
The report also reveals a possible link between the level of AI in the content and the chances of getting indexed.
Here is a bar graph depicting the % of pages getting indexed and the AI content category they fall in.
Interestingly, the most important inference made in the report that SEO experts must consider is:
Content with low and moderate AI level gets 2–3x more impressions than high or very high AI-generated content.
In this perspective, Ryan Law stated that:
“Most likely, in my opinion, is that increasing use of AI correlates with decreasing content quality.”
However, it is not the first study revealing such facts.
Suggested Read: SEO Is Still Relevant For AI And Will Always Be
What Does the Related AI Content Study Show?
Semrush conducted a survey and also came up with key takeaways concerning the same topic.
They analyzed 20,000 keywords and 42,000 blog posts and summed up the conclusion.
They inferred that:
- Human-written content has 8 times more chances to get position one than AI-generated content.
- 87% of the SEO teams they surveyed favoured creating content by humans.
- Human-generated content appears more in the top 10 positions.
What Google and Digital Marketers Say?
Google has clearly stated that it only considers the quality of content to rank it and not how it is created.
But on the other hand, Google has also hinted that using AI-generated content to manipulate rankings goes against its spam policies.
This contradictory situation has one way out, i.e., producing human-generated content with quality and value.
In this perspective, Morgan McLintic, the founder of Firebrand (PR and marketing agency for tech brands), cited a study and extended his view in favour of human-generated content.
Also, Christopher Burdick, Senior Strategic Advisor at Apiary, has published a LinkedIn post addressing the dilemma of why AI-generated content keeps page form ranking. He suggested not to outsource the entire content generation task to AI, but rather use it for research and to give the content a human touch.
Similar views are shared by Neil Patel, the popular digital marketer, in a blog, in which he suggested using a correct strategy with human oversight to utilize AI for content generation in SEO. He also recommended focusing on originality, firsthand insights, and strong E-E-A-T adherence through human involvement.
Final Words
Google AI content study by Ahrefs has uncovered some eye-opening facts that will be very helpful in structuring the SEO strategy. It has also been asserted that valuable and original content gets readily cited on LLMs, and now this study has made things clearer.
In fewer words, we can conclude that: AI can be used for research and assistance but not for the complete content generation process.
Also Read: 4 AI Search and LLM Optimization Strategies for 2026
